Hospital patient care generates considerable quantities of infectious medical waste in primary and acute care facilities. There has been a general conversion from reusable, cleanable items, to disposable items over the last three decades. These conversions were made to promote antiseptic techniques in patient care and to decrease the potential for cross-infections between patients, staff and the general public. Recent federal and state government regulations such as the Medical Waste Tracking Act of 1988 and OSHA Medical Facility rules have resulted in a substantial increase in medical waste that must be classified as "infectious."
When a patient is admitted to a hospital, the patient produces approximately 55 pounds of medical waste per day. Approximately 20% of this waste is infectious. The current stated objective of the American Hospital Association and the Centers for Disease Control is to treat medical waste as soon as it is generated. Both organizations recognize that medical waste is primarily an occupational hazard for health care workers and not an environmental problem. The best way to deal with infectious medical waste is to disinfect it at the point of generation and dispose of the treated medical waste with minimum handling and storage on premises. The need for an effective way to dispose of medical waste has been highlighted by the amendment made to 29 C.F.R. .sctn.1910.1030 which provides for the federal regulation under the Occupational Safety And Health Act, 29 U.S.C. 655, 657 to control bloodborne pathogens. Specifically, the Act calls for the establishment of an exposure control plan, the containment of specimens of blood or other potentially infectious materials and the general tightening of precautionary measures to minimize the spread of disease. A safe and effective way to dispose of hospital waste in the form of soiled garments and apparent would greatly facilitate compliance with the above-referenced Act.
Disposable medical utensils are generally composed of thermoplastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene, styrene, polyamides, acrylics, polyarimids, polyesters and cellulosics.
Although there is clearly a benefit in the use of disposables in medical care in that they reduce human contact with medical waste, non-biodegradable disposables are posing a disposability problem that is now being recognized. Landfill sites are becoming increasingly burdened with disposables which do not degrade for hundreds of years, if ever. As landfill sites become fully exploited, new sites must be found which are rightfully opposed by residents located proximate to proposed site locations. Medical waste incinerators are not available options to many generators.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide disposable hot water soluble utensils that can be disposed of while avoiding additional burdens to landfill disposal sites and incinerators.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of disposing of such utensils after use such that the utensils can be solubilized and medical waste substantially disinfected, in a single operation.
These and further objects will be more readily appreciated while considering the following disclosure and appended claims.